The Republican Cordray Cave-In Caucus

The Republican Cordray Cave-In Caucus

Bob Corker, pictured on Capitol Hill on June 24, 2013, was 17 Republican senators who voted for cloture in the nomination of Richard Cordray to head to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Back on Feb. 1, nearly every Republican senator signed on to a list of demands. They would not allow a vote on "any nominee to be the Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau" unless Democrats allowed to put the agency's budget in regular appropriations and established a "bipartisan board of directors" to oversee it.

Forty-three of the then-46-member GOP caucus signed on. But today, 17 Republicans agreed to go ahead with Cordray's nomination. Fifteen of them had signed that letter, despite a distinct lack of CFPB concessions in the deal that avoided the nuclear option.

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"Mr. Cordray has agreed to several things," said Sen. John McCain after a Republican huddle about the deal. "They'll tell you about 'em."

This was a little mysterious, and other Republicans who voted for Cordray said there really were no concessions from any party.

"There's certainly been discussions, but there are no structural changes as part of this," said Sen. Bob Corker. (Unlike McCain, he avoided signing that February letter.) "There is an openness to discuss those changes down the road, but no commitments."